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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22457680">Ready</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheDistantDusk/pseuds/TheDistantDusk'>TheDistantDusk</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Canon Hinny one-shots (all ratings, no order) [10]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Baby James, Domestic Fluff, F/M</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-01-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-01-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-04-28 16:47:36</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>599</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22457680</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheDistantDusk/pseuds/TheDistantDusk</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Just yesterday, she'd wondered if they were ready.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Harry Potter/Ginny Weasley</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Canon Hinny one-shots (all ratings, no order) [10]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2064753</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>184</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Ready</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>From a Tumblr prompt about Harry and Baby James.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Just yesterday, she’d wondered if they were ready.</p><p>They’d had the furniture, of course. A pram. A cot. A high chair. A changing table. Everything they’d theoretically need to keep their baby happy and healthy.</p><p>But were they <em>really</em> ready? Ginny hadn’t known. Not until now.</p><p>Harry’s sitting in a rocking chair to her left, his head bowed. His face is pale, and he’s weeping. Openly.</p><p>But he’s not sad.</p><p>She knows as much from the gentle curl of his lips, from the soft rise and fall of his chest, from the way his arms are tucked snugly around the blue blanket.</p><p>It’s been five years since he’s cried this much, at least in front of her. She reckons he doesn’t cry much otherwise, either; that’s not how Harry processes things. <em>When</em> he cries, <em>if</em> he cries, it’s mostly in bed, beside her — and even then, he usually hides his face. He buries it in her hair as the tears flow, pressing her to the crook of his neck. Smelling her hair. Telling her how much he loves her.</p><p>Harry cries for different reasons that she does, too. Normally, she cries when she’s angry. Or embarrassed. It’s the type of emotion that bubbles over when she wants it to the least, the type she can’t hold back.</p><p>Harry, though, normally cries when he feels he’s disappointed someone — which is rather heartbreaking, by itself. Ginny hates seeing him in pain. She hates watching him suffer or blame himself for anything or inflict more harm upon himself than the world has done. But now, <em>today</em>, he’s not hurting. Not at all.</p><p>Crystalline rivulets of mixed joy and love run down his cheeks. A steady, unbroken stream that drips onto his shirt, staining the front. She’s not sure how well he can see, but she reckons not well. Even if his eyes weren’t slammed shut, his glasses are fogged and cloudy, like they used to get at Hogwarts when they’d snogged too intensely.</p><p>But they’re not snogging and he’s not disappointed and he’s not in pain. He’s happy.</p><p>Happier than she’s ever seen him. He looks peaceful. He looks... <em>calm</em>. Harry’s got the same easy confidence as when he’d asked her to be his girlfriend. Of when he’d kissed her in the common room. Of when he’d asked her to marry him. He’s—</p><p>“Ready?” Harry blurts, nodding down at the baby.</p><p><em>Oh</em>. Ginny swallows. She hadn’t even noticed him waking, his little tongue rooting around the corners of his tiny red face. They’ve only known him a few hours, but they know when he’s hungry.</p><p>She smiles and reaches out, but Harry gives her a plain look. His mouth draws in a firm, tight line even as his red-rimmed eyes scream <em>Don’t think so, darling; you’ve done enough today</em>. But before she has a chance to protest, Harry’s on his feet, softly crooning as he moves James into Ginny’s arms. She shifts against the pillows, but Harry’s got that, too; without taking his eyes off the baby, he ensures she’s at a perfect height. He’s a bloody <em>natural</em>, she swears; it’s almost unfair, really.</p><p>“That’s it, mate. You’ve got it,” Harry whispers, bowing to kiss his son’s messy black hair. And as if Harry’s words have a compelling effect, James lets out a final plaintive mewl before he finds what he needs.</p><p><em>Yes</em>, Ginny thinks, as the baby finds a sucking pattern — albeit a vaguely painful one. As she runs her fingers through his mop of black hair. As she hears Harry chuckle while he settles in beside her again.</p><p><em>They’re ready</em>.</p>
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